Intertwinement
by roses.red
Summary: Lost and separated in a strange, unknown world, three girls begin a search to return home. What is their real purpose, and who is behind the demon that brought them there anyway? HieixOC, eventual KuramaxOC, eventual KoenmaxOC
1. Chapter 1

t_A/n: Yes, I am now writing a YYH story. I have no idea where it came from, but it popped into my head so I started writing and now it's a little over 4 chaps long. Woot! It starts shortly before the series begins. Sorry if the first chapter's a bit boring, it gets better, I promise. Oh, sentences in italics are spoken in Japanese. I guess that means I'm speaking Japanese right now. MWA HA HA!!_

Chapter 1:

"When Lily opened her eyes once again, she realized that this was no dream. She was in a different world, a place where magic reigned supreme and demons scoured the land. No longer would she awake from a good night's sleep in her nice warm bed, safe in her house from any outside evil. Fear would now follow her wherever she went. Her only hope lay in the Suishou no Toitsu, the three-piece crystal which, when brought together, would allow her the power to return home. And so, her search began."

Hope lowered the notebook in her hands and returned to her seat. Many of the students clapped as she sat down, and she felt her face grow even hotter. Darn Din and Jessa for electing her to read their story to the class. She sent them a glare. Jessa grinned innocently and Din just gave her a "Ha ha, sucks for you" smile.

"Very nicely done, girls," Mrs. Brown said. "The introduction is very attention grabbing, as it should be, and you used superb grammar." She gave the three girls a proud smile. "Now, who would like to go next?"

When the bell rang, the girls filed into the hall and headed for the cafeteria. Since they were Freshman, they all had A lunch together, and they also had a lot of the same classes. That was actually how they had met, and it hadn't taken long for them to become fast friends.

"I'm mad at you," Hope grumbled to the blond and the short redhead walking on either side of her. "I hate getting up in front of the class."

Din smiled up at her. Even though Hope was one of the shortest girls in the school, standing only at 5'2, Din was even shorter, barely reaching 5'0. "Yes, but so do we, and since Jessa has a sore throat, we picked you instead."

"Thanks," Hope muttered sarcastically, rolling her blue eyes.

"Don't worry, Hope! At least Mrs. Brown liked it!" Jessa put in cheerfully. She then burst into a fit of coughs.

"Why are you even at school?" Din asked the sputtering blond. "If you're this sick, you should be at home."

"It's my dumb mother's fault. She said I was faking it to get out of presenting our project to the class, so she forced me to come!" Jessa said.

The girls reached the crowded cafeteria and headed into the double doors. The smell of overcooked fried food wafted in the air, and they wrinkled up their noses. "Are they ever going to give us something decent to eat?" Hope asked, eyeing the blobby black lumps that were supposed to be chicken.

"It's cafeteria food. Of course not," Din said. Reluctantly, they grabbed trays and walked down the line. The cafeteria lady frowned when Jessa began coughing again. Hope and Din rolled their eyes helplessly.

After managing to find three empty seats at the overfilled tables, the girls picked at their food for a little while, but silently mutually agreed that the food was even less edible than usual, and wound up throwing everything away and heading to the vending machines outside the cafeteria instead. Lunch was the only time students were allowed to go outside, and only Seniors were allowed to sit at the picnic tables, although some Underclassmen ate there anyway. For the most part, the teachers didn't care, since the cafeteria was too small to hold all of the students.

Hope and Din started digging in their purses for a dollar; Jessa didn't have any money. That was when they heard the noise. It was a rumbling sound, low at first, maybe like a lawn mower, and then gradually it began to grow louder and louder, and wind began whipping past them. They turned around to see a huge black hole hovering in midair just behind them.

"What the hell?" Din screamed, but her voice was lost in the loud rumbling.

While they stared, a huge green monster, beady red eyes darting around, climbed through the hole. Its eyes fell on the girls, and it lunged towards them. Hope, Din, and Jessa stumbled backwards, trying to run away, but the monster caught them in its giant clawed hand and carried them screaming into the black hole.

At first they could hear only a sound like wind rushing by them and one another's screams, and then everything fell into an icy silence and darkness surrounded them.

* * *

The sounds of traffic zooming by reached Hope's ears. She opened her eyes and sat up, staring at the tall trees surrounding her. Where was she? She stood up, and looked around. Maybe this was the forest behind the school? She began to follow the car noises until she reached the edge of the forest and stood before a busy street. Hope blinked at the people hurrying along on the sidewalk. They were all…Asian?

"What happened?" she said under her breath. Closing her eyes, she thought back a moment. She was at school with Jessa and Din, and then...Oh. Some sort of black hole thing had appeared, and this monster had grabbed them and pulled them into. So Din and Jessa had to be here too.

"Din! Jessa!" she called, attracting some stares. Her friends didn't seem to be there. She frowned and went back into the forest, calling them again. Only the sound of the wind rustling the treetops answered her. Din and Jessa weren't there either.

"What do I do?" Hope wondered. "I have no clue where I am." She wandered back out to the street and looked around. Her eyes fell on an elderly couple; maybe they could help her.

She ran up to them. "Um, excuse me." The man and woman turned around, giving her an odd look. "I'm sorry, I got separated from my friends and now I'm lost. Do you think you could help me?"

They eyed her curiously again and exchanged looks. The man said something Hope couldn't understand and they left her standing in the middle of the sidewalk, feeling like an idiot. She sighed. This wasn't getting off to a good start. The man seemed to speak a different language. Chinese, maybe? Japanese? She'd heard Japanese before thanks to Din's anime obsession, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember what it sounded like.

"Um, does anyone speak English? Anyone?" she asked hesitantly to the people walking past her. "Hello? English? English, please?" People just brushed past and ignored her. She bit her lip. This was starting to look hopeless. She smirked a little at the poor pun.

"E-excuse me," a voice said behind her with a thick accent. Hope's ears perked up at the familiar words and she turned around to see a girl around her age, about Jessa's height, with brown hair tied in two low ponytails around her shoulders. She was dressed in a school uniform.

"Do you speak English?" Hope asked eagerly.

"A little bit," the girl said. "Do you need help?"

"Yeah, I have no idea where I am, and I don't know where my friends are and nobody can understand me!"

The girl paused for a moment. "Sorry," she said. "Could you say that again?"

"Oh, sorry. I got separated from my friends and I'm lost," she said, trying to speak more slowly so the girl could keep up.

"Oh, I see," the girl said thoughtfully. "I do not know how to find your friends but you may come to my house and use the phone."

"Can I, please?" Hope asked.

The girl smiled and nodded. "This way." Hope followed the girl. Come to think of it, she wasn't sure who she was going to call. Wait, Din had a cell phone.

They arrived at the girl's house shortly afterwards. It was very small, Hope noted. The girl slid her shoes off before going inside, and a little uncertainly, Hope followed suit. "_I'm home_!" the girl called in her language. By now, Hope had mostly decided it was Japanese, but she still wasn't sure.

A middle-aged man wearing slacks and a button-up shirt came in. Hope guessed he was the girl's father. "_Hello, Keiko, how was your day_?" His eyes fell on Hope and lingered on her dirty blond hair. "_Who is this? A foreigner_?"

"_I ran into her on the street_," Keiko explained. "_She says she got separated from her friends and now she's lost, so I offered to let her use our phone. She only speaks English_."

The man turned to Hope. "Welcome to our house, Miss," he said in fluent English. "My name is Mr. Yukimura and this is my daughter, Keiko." He indicated to the girl who smiled kindly.

"Um, it's nice to meet you Mr. Yukimura, and Keiko," Hope said.

"The phone is right in here if you would like to use it," Mr. Yukimura said. He led her into the living room, and pointed at the phone on the wall.

"Thank you," Hope said. She walked over to the phone and started to dial, but paused. Would a cell phone even work in a different country? She shrugged and dialed it in anyway. It couldn't hurt. The phone rang twice, and then she heard a recorded voice saying something in the foreign language. She sighed and hung up. It was no good after all.

"Did you meet your friend?" Keiko asked.

Hope turned to her. 'Meet?' Oh, she meant talk to. She shook her head. "I guess her phone doesn't work here, or she has it turned off."

"I'm sorry," Keiko said sympathetically. "Did you have a place if you separated?"

Hope thought about the question for a moment, trying to figure out what Keiko was trying to say. "Oh, no. To tell the truth, I'm not even sure how I got here."

"What do you mean?"

Hope paused for a second, thinking. How much could she tell this girl without her thinking she was insane? Certainly not about the monster and the black hole. Hope wasn't even sure if _she_ believed that. "The last thing I remember is being in America, and then I woke up and I was here."

"That is strange. Do you think it is am-ammonia?" Keiko asked.

"You mean amnesia? I don't know," Hope said, shaking her head. "I just want to go back home."

"You may stay here for awhile until you find your friends," Keiko offered.

"Won't your parents mind?"

Keiko shook her head. "I do not think. I will ask." She ran into the other room, and Hope heard her talking to her dad. A few minutes later, Keiko came back in. "It is fine, if you want," she said.

"Thank you so much!" Hope cried. She was still utterly confused about where she was, or what had happened to her and her friends, but at least she had somewhere to stay until she could figure things out.

_A/N: Ok, about Keiko. Sorry if her English is a little _too_ fluent. It's really hard writing not fluently, harder than I realized. Anyway, look forward to chapter 2, which will follow Din and Jessa._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/n: La la la. There is a cricket crawling around on my floor, and a cockroach living on my back porch. I mean, it's seriously living there. Everytime I go outside at night, it's standing in the same spot and it just kinda sits there and stares at me until I threaten to squash it. Then it climbs up on the rail and sits there instead. I'm being stalked by a cockroach...that's only slightly creepy and disgusting. Anyway, on to the good stuff. I'm quite fond of this chapter. Writing it was fun. Reviews appreciated._

Chapter 2:

Din awoke to a feeling of great discomfort throughout her entire body. It took her a moment to realize this was because she was lying on her stomach on something hard and bumpy. She opened her eyes, and a barren, gray wasteland met her vision. Pushing herself up, she glanced around, and a shiver ran down her spine. Wherever this place was, she had a strong feeling she didn't like it.

Standing up, she glanced at the sky and raised her eyebrows. Unless there was about to be a serious thunderstorm, she was pretty sure lightning streaking across the sky in multiple places every two seconds wasn't normal. It was pretty cool though. Now, how to go about figuring out where the hell she was…

Deep, throaty laughter behind her broke her out of those thoughts. She turned around to see a red-skinned beast with four horns growing out of its forehead. Din grimaced. Okay, first she and her friends get pulled into a black hole by an ugly monster, and now another one was standing in the middle of some creepy wasteland laughing at her. Could this day get any weirder?

"_Look what we have here. It's a little human girl. Have you come here to be devoured by me_?" the creature said in a gravelly voice, leering at her. Din frowned. Was it speaking Japanese? She was pretty sure she recognized "ningen", the word for human, in that statement.

'Well, at least it's somewhat intelligent,' she thought. 'Although, that may turn out to be a bad thing.'

"Watashi wa Din desu (my name is Din). Douzo yoroshiku (nice to meet you)," she said.

The beast looked confused for a moment, and then it laughed again, throwing its head back. "_Ha ha! You're pretty funny, aren't you? Too bad I have to eat you now!_"

He lunged at her, and Din jumped back. Okay, big ugly monster attacking her—bad. Running away—good. She turned heel and started running as fast as she could in the opposite direction. She could hear, and feel, the creature's thundering footsteps behind her. She stole a glance over her shoulder to see the thing drawing ever closer. 'Damn, he's fast for a big lug,' she grumbled, and tried to speed up. It was no good; a few seconds later, a hand reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pinning her arms to her sides. She struggled, kicking her legs, but his grip was tight.

He held her up to his face and grinned. "_Thank you again for delivering yourself so neatly into my hands. Now, say bye-bye_." He squeezed tighter, so much that anymore and her ribs would snap. She squirmed in pain as he raised her to his mouth and opened wide.

'Oh, shit no, I am not going out like this,' she thought angrily, but there was nothing she could do. She closed her eyes and held her breath, deciding she didn't want the smell of nasty monster-breath to be the last thing she remembered before dying.

She felt the sensation of falling, and knew the end was near. She landed with a painful thud on something hard and dry. Wait a minute…she was pretty sure even monster tongues were wet and mushy. Daring a peek, she opened one eye, to see that she was sitting on the ground, and her black skirt and fishnet top were wet with something dark and sticky. It was blood.

"_Hmph. Too easy. You shouldn't have pissed me off_," a male voice said. Once again, she couldn't understand him, although she recognized it as Japanese.

Din looked up to see a teenage boy dressed in a black robe and pants. In his hand held a katana dripping with blood. Her heart rate quickened; he was very cool looking, but he was also short, even shorter than her. On the other hand, if one counted his hair, which was black and spiked up at least half a foot into the air, he was definitely taller.

He glanced over his shoulder to look at the corpse of the bloodied and now headless creature he had just slain, and his eyes, red as blood, fell on Din. He frowned. "_Who are you_?" He paused, and his eyes narrowed. "_A human? How did you get here_?"

"Yeah, I can't understand a word you're saying," Din said. She stood up and brushed herself off as best she could—not that the blood was going anywhere anytime soon. "Well, that's not entirely true. I did understand 'ningen', but that's about it."

Hiei raised a brow at the human girl standing before him. She had repeated the word 'ningen', but beyond that he could not understand her at all. A smirk spread across his face. "_I see; you don't speak my language_," he said. "_You should know that I despise humans, but you're too pathetic to waste my time on, so I will spare you. I'm sure some low class demon will finish you off soon enough, anyway_."

Din watched as the boy turned and started to walk away. Now he was spouting off something about demons. Well, whatever. She wasn't about to stay here waiting for another weirdo to attack her, and since this guy had, as far as she could tell, saved her, she may as well follow him. After a moment, the boy glared back at her.

"_Why are you following me_?" he demanded.

"Watashi wa Din desu," Din said, since she had no clue what he had just asked her and introducing herself seemed like the best route.

Hiei cocked an eyebrow at her. "_So, you can speak some_," he commented. "_Regardless. I don't care what your name is. Stop following me_."

"Onamae wa nan desu ka (what is your name)?" Din asked; he apparently wasn't going to give it himself. Now she was reaching the end of her knowledge of the Japanese language. Her parents had hired a Japanese tutor for her in eighth grade, but once she started high school she'd had to quit, so she didn't get very far with lessons only once a month for less than a year.

"_My name is of no consequence to you_," Hiei told her. This human brat was starting to annoy him. "_Now leave_."

Okay, apparently he didn't want to tell her what his name was. Din shrugged and continued following him. And then, out of nowhere, he was standing in front of her, and the blade of his sword was pressed against her neck. She choked on her own breath and leaned backwards, staring fearfully into his gleaming red eyes. She hated to admit it, but this guy was scary as hell.

"_Do not make me repeat myself again, human_." He spat 'human' as though it were filth in his mouth. "_Do not continue to follow me, or believe me, I will kill you_."

The girl just stared at him with fear-filled eyes. Well, threatening someone who could barely understand him probably wouldn't get him too far, but then again it might. Slowly, he lowered his sword and re-sheathed it. He pointed behind her, opposite of where he was going, looking pointedly into her eyes. "_Understand_?"

She nodded and backed up a few steps. "Wa-wakarimasu (I-I understand)," she said.

Hiei smirked and turned around, pleased with himself. This girl might not understand his language, but at least she wasn't stupid. Then again, a defenseless human running around in the Makai was not exactly smart. Which raised the question of how she got into the Makai in the first place. "_Hmph_," he muttered. It hardly mattered. He could care less what those pathetic humans did, as long as they didn't bother him.

* * *

Loud voices filled her mind, giving her a headache, and something kept poking her in the side. Jessa opened her eyes to see a blue-haired girl kneeling beside her.

"_Hello_!" the girl said in a cheery voice.

Jessa blinked at her, not understanding what this girl had just said. "Huh?" she mumbled; she was still half-asleep. She sat up, rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. No, she was still surrounded by a mob of multi-colored ogre things, and this one girl with the blue ponytail and a pink kimono. Jessa sighed. She must've eaten too many cookies before bed again. Wait…she hadn't gone to bed. She shook her head as she remembered what had happened, deciding it was best not to think about that right now. Instead, she turned her attention to the girl kneeling beside her.

"Who are you?" Jessa asked.

"Oh, do you speak English?" the girl asked. This time, thankfully, Jessa could understand her.

"Uh, yeah, what language do you speak?" Jessa said, not really expecting an answer.

"Well, to be exact, I speak Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Romanian, and I'm still learning Hindi," the girl said, counting off on her fingers as she listed the ton of languages.

Jessa blinked at her. Was it even possible to know that many languages?

"Anyway, my name's Botan," the girl said, standing up and holding out her hand to help Jessa up. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Jessa," she replied, letting Botan pull her to her feet. She looked around again. "Where are we again?"

Botan laughed. "Why, Reikai of course, or the Spirit World in your tongue!"

"Uh huh," Jessa said. "What's up with all the ogre people?"

"Oh, these are all King Yama's helpers," Botan replied, not really providing an explanation. "Speaking of which, I have to take you to see him now, or rather, his son. You're still living and we have no idea how you got here!"

"How _did_ I get here?" Jessa asked, letting the cheerful girl lead her through the multiple rooms of the humongous building they were in. The ogres were all over the place—carrying stacks of papers, talking on telephones, typing on computers. She was pretty sure even cookies couldn't make her dream this up.

"You fell from a hole in the ceiling, and beyond that we don't know," Botan said. "That's why I'm taking you to Koenma, so we can figure out what to do with you."

"Riiight," Jessa mumbled. Like she actually had any clue what this girl was talking about.

They reached a pair of pink and gold gates, which opened when they approached, revealing a desk stacked with papers. Sitting in the desk chair, stamping the papers, was a…toddler?! Jessa gawked at him. It was a toddler, dressed in blue and yellow with a blue hat that said "Jr." on the rim and a pacifier in his mouth.

"Lord Koenma, I've brought you the girl," Botan said, bowing.

The baby…Koenma? looked up from his papers to see the two girls standing there. "Oh, hello there," he said, jumping on top of the desk and hopping down to stand in front of them. "I assume you speak English, then?" Jessa nodded, trying to contain her laughter. She was unsuccessful, and doubled over, clutching her stomach while she laughed her head off.

Koenma eyed her curiously. "Is she alright?" he asked Botan.

"I-I don't know," Botan said. "Is something the matter, Jessa?"

"No, no," Jessa gasped, her fit of laughter finally dying. "I'm alright, nothing wrong!" She looked at Koenma, and fell into another fit.

Koenma and Botan watched her, patiently waiting until she stopped laughing. "If you're quite finished," Koenma said, sounding irritated with her. He must have caught on that she was laughing at him. "We have some serious business to discuss. For instance, what you're doing in the Spirit World, even though you're obviously quite alive."

Jessa pondered it for a moment, then shrugged. "Beats me."

"Did anything unusual happen to you today?"

"Well, there was some black hole and then an ugly monster grabbed us and pulled us into it. That's the last thing I remember," Jessa told him.

"Interesting…" Koenma began pacing the room thoughtfully. He stopped and turned to Botan. "Botan, I'm going to investigate this situation. In the meantime, get her a job or something so she stays out of trouble. And keep an eye on her."

"Yes, sir," Botan said, bowing. "Come on, Jessa, let's go find something for you to do."

Jessa made a face. "You want me to work?"

"Well, you can't just stand around and do nothing all day; there's all sorts of bad things that could happen to a living human in the Spirit World, and until we find out something about what's going on, we can't have you wandering around the Human World either," Botan said. "Don't worry, I'll find something easy like filing papers!"

"Great," Jessa mumbled. She could tell there was a long day ahead of her.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/n: Chapter 3, chapter 3. I am very sleepy. Yep. Ok, onwards!_

Chapter 3:

"Wa-ta-shi wa Hope de-su?" Hope slowly repeated the phrase.

"Good," Keiko said. "How do you say 'How are you'?"

Hope thought about it for a moment, trying to remember the phrase. For the past hour and a half, Keiko had been working with her, trying to teach her a few basic Japanese phrases. "Ha-hajimashite?" she offered uncertaintly.

"Haji_me_mashite," Keiko corrected her. She smiled reassuringly. "Almost."

'Hajimemashite, hajimemashite,' Hope repeated in her mind, trying to engrave it in her brain. So far, she knew how to say "my name is", "hello", "goodbye", "thank you", and now "how are you", but she was still forgetting them and getting them confused a lot. She sighed. Learning a new language really was hard, and she hadn't even gotten into grammar rules or anything. Hopefully she wouldn't have to, because she would figure out how to get back home before then.

"Keiko, time for dinner!" Keiko's mother called from the kitchen.

"It is dinnertime," Keiko told Hope, and the two girls climbed off Keiko's bed and joined her parents.

Mrs. Yukimura was a very kind woman. She spoke a little bit of English, and had welcomed Hope warmly and gladly, even though she was a stranger. She had even insisted on giving Hope some money to buy clothes with, since all she had was the jeans and t-shirt she was wearing. Hope had been hesitant about taking it, but Mrs. Yukimura wouldn't take no for an answer. Keiko said they could go shopping after school tomorrow.

Hope sighed as Keiko handed her a fork after she spent a good two minutes fumbling with chopsticks. Keiko and her family were nice, but she really just wanted to go home. Maybe this was all just a dream and she would wake up in her nice comfortable bed at home. Unfortunately, that seemed pretty unlikely at this point.

Din followed the black-clothed boy as quietly as she could, trying to keep her distance so he wouldn't notice her. She'd been doing this for about two hours now, or at least that's what she thought. To tell the truth, she wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt like two hours, so that's what she was going with.

This guy really did scare the crap out of her, especially after she realized he was threatening to kill her if she kept following him, but on the other hand, she'd decided she would rather take her chances with him than with another of those monsters. At least _he_ hadn't tried to eat her. The really bad thing was that he was extremely fast; more than once she had almost lost track of him. She almost had the feeling he knew she was following him and was making a halfhearted attempt at losing her. Then again, she was pretty sure if he knew she was still following him, she would either be dead or he really would have lost her. So she kept following.

Hiei cast a glance over his shoulder. That damn girl was still following him, and she actually had the gall to think that she was fooling him. He laughed at her stupidity. As if she, a mere human, could actually fool him. The only reason he was tolerating her was that she wasn't bothering him. In fact, he was somewhat amused at her pathetic attempt at stealth. There was a demon village nearby anyway. He would let her follow him until they reached that place, and then he would leave her there. Unless she was a complete idiot, she would stay in the village, although they might just eat her regardless. It didn't matter to him anyway.

Din sighed. She really wished she was in better shape, because all this walking, and sometimes running, was starting to wear her out. She couldn't afford to take a break though, because she was pretty sure the moment she stopped she would lose sight of him. So she kept going, pushing her body's stamina a little farther. Before long, she saw a group of houses looming up in the distance, and she realized it was a village. She smiled happily. Maybe this guy would decide to rest here, and she could finally take a break. He couldn't keep walking forever, right?

Much to her relief, the boy walked straight into the village. She jogged so she could get a little closer to him, and hid behind one of the houses, watching while he talked to a burly man. Even though she couldn't understand what he was saying, but she could tell by his tone that it was probably something threatening. Then he looked over his shoulder and glared right at her.

Din ducked behind the corner, pressing her back up against the house. He'd known she was following him after all. Now she felt like an idiot. Sighing, she looked around the corner again, but he was gone. Instead, the burly man he'd been talking to was walking up to her. She hesitated for a moment, trying to decide if she should run or not, but he reached her before she made up her mind.

"Are you the human girl?" he asked.

Din thought about what the man had just said. She was pretty sure she'd understood most of it. Anata, ningen, onna, desuka. Oh! Wait, was she a human girl? Well, she was, but it was still kind of a weird question. Oh, whatever. "Hai," she replied.

"This way," the man said, indicating for her to follow him.

She debated whether or not to actually follow him, but since she didn't know what else to do, she went with it. Why did everyone keep calling her human? The monster she understood, but the boy and now this man? Weren't they human? Wait a minute…red eyes, super speed, seemed to hate her. That boy was a demon! And that meant the monster, this man, and probably everyone else in this village was too! She grimaced. Demons ate humans, and that meant… "Aw, hell," she muttered under her breath. Well, time to get out of here as fast as possible.

She ducked into one of the alleyways and started running as fast as she could, hoping it would take the guy awhile to notice she was gone. The alleyway led to a street which was set up like a market and bustling with all sorts of people, er…demons. Most of them looked human enough, but she did notice some demon attributes, like oddly colored hair or eyes, and sometimes horns or a tail. They turned to stare at her as she ran past, and she heard the word human said several times.

Din pushed herself faster, praying no one would decide they were hungry and she was an easy snack. No one did though, and she reached the edge of the village without being followed or anything. She ran into the field just outside the village, and kept running until when she looked over her shoulder, she could no longer see the village. Finally, she stopped, leaning her hands on her knees and gasping for breath.

"_Are you alright, little girl_?" a gentle voice asked.

Din whipped around, staying on guard, even though she understood the question. A man with long green hair and yellow tinged skin, dressed in a brown and black robe stood there. "Who are you?" she demanded, backing up a step, her hands clenched into fists.

"My name is Gakuto," the man said, switching to English to Din's surprise. "You're a long way from home aren't you?" He took a step forward and she moved backwards several more steps.

"What do you want with me?" she demanded.

He stopped. "I only want to help you," he said. He held his hand out to her.

"No thanks. I can take care of myself," Din said. She wasn't about to trust some random demon.

"Are you sssure about that?" he hissed. Din's eyes widened in horror as his head changed to that of a long, green and yellow snake.

She whipped around and started running, but four snake-arms wrapped around her, pulling her back. Damn it, why did this keep happening to her? At this rate she wasn't going to be able to make fun of those stupid damsels in distress anymore. _If_ she survived this.

"Perhapsss you aren't ssso capable as you thought," he hissed into her ear. Turning her head to look at him, she saw his mouth opening wide and giant fangs protruding out. She was not going to just sit here while someone tried to eat her _again_. Raising a leg, she aimed a backwards kick into his crotch, hoping she wouldn't miss. Her kick landed, and he hissed out a scream and dropped her, doubling over in pain.

"Don't underestimate me just because I'm a human," she called over her shoulder as she ran. "A man is still a man, no matter what species." Now, if she could just get far enough away that he wouldn't catch her. She wasn't sure if that was possible.

Sure enough, the snake-arms wrapped around her again, squeezing tightly around her legs as well this time. She was pinned, completely immobile, as he opened his mouth and leaned towards her neck.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/n: Chapter 4! I'm almost caught up with all the chapters I have written now. Of course, I'm still working on more. I'm just updating faster than I can write. Anyway, I'm blabbering. Thanks for the reviews, everyone who did! Now, on to the chapter!_

Chapter 4:

Jessa stared blankly at the stack of papers in front of her. These things made absolutely no sense to her whatsoever. "Are you serious?" she asked at last.

"Of course! Don't worry, it's not _that_ much work," Botan declared cheerfully.

Jessa held up the top sheet of paper for Botan to see. "I can't even read this!"

"Oh," Botan said. "I guess that is a problem. Hmm…" She snapped her fingers. "I know! Wait here, I have to go speak with Koenma." Jessa blinked as the blue-haired girl ran off. And she used to think of herself as energetic.

Botan hurried into Koenma's room, where he was sitting at his desk, stamping papers as always. "Lord Koenma, we have a problem!"

"What?" Koenma cried, looking up from his paperwork. "What's wrong?"

"I tried putting Jessa to work, like you said, but she can't read the writing on the papers to file them," Botan explained.

"Oh, is that all?" Koenma asked. He almost looked disappointed. "That is a problem though. We have to find something for her to do; she can't just be wandering all over Reikai by herself. Hmm…."

"Actually, sir, I have an idea," Botan said. He glanced at her expectantly. "She can do Spirit Guide work with me."

"Botan, you want a human to work as a Spirit Guide? But she's still living!"

"Yes, that's true," Botan agreed. "But she would really just be tagging along, and that way I could keep an eye on her all the time!"

Koenma pondered for a moment. "Well, alright," he said at last. "I guess it can't hurt. Go ahead and get started then."

"Yes, sir!" Botan quickly returned to the room she had left Jessa in, only to find the girl had disappeared. Botan looked around. "Huh? Where did she go? Her eyes landed on a group of ogres surrounding one of the computers and cheering loudly.

She walked over to see what the commotion was about, and her mouth dropped. Jessa was hunched over the computer, playing some shooting arcade game. "What are you doing?" Botan cried. The ogres jumped and turned around to face her. She pointed her finger angrily. "Everyone, get back to work!" The ogres obediently hurried back to their respective jobs.

"Jessa, you come with me," Botan said.

Jessa reluctantly exited her game and followed Botan once again through the castle hallways. "Uh, where are we going?" she asked.

"We have to get you a change of clothes. You're going to become my assistant!" Botan said happily.

"Your…assistant? And what exactly do I have to do?"

"Oh, nothing much really. You just have to help me guide the spirits of the dead." She took a sharp right and they entered another doorway, this one leading into a pink and blue bedroom.

Jessa grimaced. "The 'dead'? Wait, you mean like the Grim Reaper or something?"

"Bingo!" Botan cried. She walked over to the blue and gold wardrobe and opened it up. It was filled with pink kimonos, exactly like the one she was wearing now. Jessa's eye twitched. Really, did this girl wear _any_thing else?

Not finding what she was looking for in the wardrobe, Botan bent down and opened the drawer underneath it, digging through those clothes. "Ah, here we go!" she said. She stood up, holding out a simple, blue and orange kimono. "I think this will do nicely."

Well, Jessa did like kimonos, but she'd never actually worn one before. Taking the robe from Botan, she started changing into it. "Um," she said when she got to the obi. She tried wrapping it around her waist multiple times, but it never seemed to be quite right, and the end of the kimono was trailing the floor.

Botan turned around to see Jessa struggling. "Here, let me help you with that," she giggled, taking the obi from the blond. She pulled up the excess kimono cloth and tied the obi around it, holding it in place. "There," she said, standing back to admire her handiwork. "It looks very pretty."

Jessa glanced at herself doubtfully, holding up the sleeves. They reached almost to the floor. She hoped she would be able to walk in this thing without tripping.

"Well, let's go. It's almost time for my shift," Botan said.

She led Jessa outside of the castle, and held out her hand. An oar appeared in it, and she proceeded to sit on it, hovering in midair like a witch on a broomstick. "Grab on," she said, indicating to the end of the oar.

Hesitantly, Jessa grabbed the oar. The ground whipped out from under her feet and all of a sudden they were zipping through the air. Jessa screamed and clung tightly to the oar for dear life. She squeezed her eyes shut, screaming until she felt them come to a stop.

"It's okay, you can let go now," Botan said.

"Oh, okay," Jessa said. Without thinking, she released her hold on the oar, until she realized her feet still weren't touching anything. Looking down, she saw the ground miles beneath her, and screeched, waiting for the end to come. After a moment, she noticed the ground wasn't getting any closer. "I'm…floating?" she said.

"That's right. Your spirit was the only that fell out of that hole. It must have left your body instinctively when you entered the Spirit World in a state of unconsciousness. I guess your own soul thought you were dead!"

"You couldn't have mentioned this before?" Jessa muttered. Basically, she was the equivalent of a dead girl. "Wait, where is my body anyway?"

"I'm afraid we don't know, actually," Botan said seriously. "Koenma sent out a team to search for it. It could be anywhere."

'So I'm stuck as a ghost until the toddler figures out where my body is. Great,' Jessa thought.

"Oh, I sense a ghost nearby," Botan said, breaking Jessa out of her thoughts. She started to fly down to the ground. "Come on, let's go."

Discovering she could fly as well as float, Jessa followed. And then, she caught sight of a familiar person. "Hope!" she cried, changing course.

Botan glanced over her shoulder to see Jessa flying off in the opposite direction. "Wait, where are you going?"

"That's my friend," Jessa said. She pointed to a girl with light brown hair held in twin buns on top of her head. "Hey, Hope! Dummy, look over here!" She landed on the sidewalk and ran towards the girl. "Hope!" She reached out her arms to hug Hope, and fell right through her. "Huh?" she said, turning back to her friend.

"You're just a spirit now, remember?" Botan said, hovering down beside her. "As long as you're in that form, she can't see, hear, or feel you."

Jessa glanced back at her friend, who was walking with a Japanese girl in a school uniform who spoke some English. She looked like she was having fun, but she also looked lonely and a little scared, and Jessa didn't blame her. Hope was all alone in a country where very few spoke her language, and she knew about as much as Jessa did. At least Jessa had been lucky enough to have people who could talk to her and explain things. She frowned. Then again, at least Hope had a body.

"Come on," Botan said, dragging her out of her thoughts. "We have to get to work now. I have a quota to fill."

"Aren't you gonna do something?"

"There's nothing we can do right now, but I'll let Koenma know when we go back. He might be able to find a clue about what happened to you and your friend," Botan reassured her. Jessa nodded, and they headed off to start spirit guiding.

* * *

Din grimaced as the saliva dripping fangs neared her, bracing herself as best she could for the bite. Then, at the last second, Gakuto or whatever his name was, screamed and jerked his head back. Looking over his shoulder, he dropped Din and whipped around. As she scurried backwards, Din saw blood gushing from a deep cut on his back.

"You! Why do you attack me? She isss my prey!" Gakuto hissed at his attacker.

"Hmph. You should find someone better to prey on," Hiei said, and quick as lightning, he swung his sword again, slicing the snake demon into multiple pieces.

Din stared at the boy. Ten minutes ago he'd hated her guts, and now he was saving her? This guy was confusing. He turned to her, looking pissed, and she backed away. Scary!

"You seem to have a knack for getting into trouble, human," Hiei said to the girl. "And why do you insist on following me? I prepare a place where you can be cared for and _not_ eaten by demons, so instead you come running after me again."

The girl just stared at him blankly. He could tell by her stance that she was scared. He sighed. "Fine, since you won't give up I may as well just take you along, or you really are going to get yourself killed, and then you'll give some poor demon a stomachache." He turned around and started to walk away. The girl didn't follow. He looked back at her. "Well, are you coming or not?"

The boy stopped and stared back at her. He said something, but obviously, she didn't understand. He stood still, glaring at her and looking impatient. Wait, was he waiting for her? Well that didn't make sense, considering he'd just threatened to kill her if she didn't _stop_ following him. He was still standing there. She took a hesitant step forward. He made no move to slice her in half, so she kept going. He waited until she was several steps behind him and then started walking again. Din shrugged. What a weirdo.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/n: Alright, I'm pretty much caught up now, which means no more updating every/every other day. I need to work on my other story too, plus I have to write an original fic for my creative writing final project, which is going to be difficult in only...3 months. The fastest I've ever finished a story was about 9 months, so I have a lot of work to do!! -hides-_

Chapter 5:

"Ryota, is it true that you lost the human girls Lord Hitoshi ordered you to capture?"

The brawny green demon groaned, folding his arms over his chest. "That's right," he said. "And now he's probably going to kill me for it."

The young looking woman sat down cross-legged beside him, flipping her waist length blue and silver braid. Her golden eyes narrowed. "I can't understand what he wants with some puny humans anyway," she muttered.

Ryota shrugged. "What's it matter anyway, Naho? We do what Lord Hitoshi asks, if we succeed he rewards us, if we fail, he kills us. His reasons make no difference."

Naho glanced up at him briefly. "You could run now instead of just standing here, waiting for your death."

He shrugged. "He'll just send stronger demons to capture me. Who knows, he might even send you."

Naho snorted and tugged on her braid. "Fine, do what you like. What do I care if you hurry your death further?"

* * *

Hope followed Keiko down the crowded street to a clothing store, and they went inside. A clerk greeted them as they came in. Keiko nodded for her to start looking around, and with a glance at the racks, Hope began browsing through them, checking the tags for something cheap. She wanted to spend as little of the Yukimura's money as possible, especially since she was already imposing on them enough by staying in their house.

She grabbed a red, pleated miniskirt, a pair of Capri's, and a few t-shirts and headed into the dressing room to try them on. Normally she hated trying on clothes and usually just bought them and hoped they would fit, but since this was a foreign country and the sizes were different, it would probably be a bad idea to do something like that. When Hope and Keiko were both finished, they paid the woman at the register and went back outside.

"Do you need anything else?" Keiko asked.

Hope thought it over for a second then shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Do you want to get ice cream?" Keiko pointed to a vendor handing out ice cream cones to a line of people.

"Sure," Hope said, and followed Keiko to the line.

"I will buy them, so you wait here," Keiko told her. "What kind do you want?"

"Chocolate."

"Okay. I will be back!" Keiko smiled and hurried over to stand in line, pulling some money out of her purse.

Hope leaned against the wall of the clothing store while she waited. While she was standing there, beginning to get lost in her own thoughts, a hand suddenly snatched her shopping bag. "Hey!" Hope exclaimed, turning to the man who was running quickly down the streets. Frowning, she started to run after him. Keiko's parents had spent good money on those clothes; she wasn't about to let some dumb bandit get away with them.

The man was already pretty far ahead of her. Hope put in an extra spurt of speed, and soon she was gaining on him. Even though she wasn't athletic, she could run fast when she really wanted to. "Give those back!" she yelled. Reaching out, she tried to grab the bag away from him, but missed and lost her footing, falling onto the pavement.

The man glanced over his shoulder and smirked at her. "Crap," she muttered as he disappeared into a crowd. There was no way she would find him now. Groaning, she stood back up, brushing off her pants legs. "This is so stupid, it sucks."

"Excuse me," a gentle voice said behind her, in English. "Is this yours?"

Hope turned around to see a boy standing there, holding her bag out to her. He was dressed in a magenta school uniform, and long red hair hung down his back. She blushed as she met his emerald green eyes and quickly looked at the bag instead. "Um, yes," she said softly, taking it from him. "Thank you."

"You should be more careful," he said. "People can be very rude."

"I will, thank you," she said again. He smiled at her once, and then turned and walked away, leaving her flushed and her heart pounding. A handsome young man, rescuing a helpless girl on the streets—it was so romantic, like something straight out of a fairytale.

"Oh no, what am I standing here daydreaming for?" Hope cried. "Keiko's probably wondering what happened to me!" She turned and hurried back to the ice cream stand.

* * *

Jessa flopped down on Botan's bed. "Ugh. I'm tired," she moaned.

"You'd better get used to it," Botan told her as she fixed her ponytail. "You may be doing this for quite awhile."

"Great. More work," Jessa said. She sighed and rolled over onto stomach. Who would've guessed guiding souls to the Spirit World could be so hard? She'd thought it would just be a matter of taking a bunch of dead people back with them, but no, there was a lot more to it than that. Many of the souls were still attached to Earth, for various reasons, usually because of a loved one, and Botan couldn't take them to Spirit World until they felt their life had been resolved. It sure was a pain in the butt.

"I hope you're not ready for bed yet," Botan chimed into Jessa's thoughts. "We still have a lot to do!"

Jessa sat up, staring at Botan in disbelief. "Are you serious? There's _more_?"

Botan giggled. "Well, you did want to tell Koenma about your friend, didn't you?"

"Oh right! I forgot about that!" Jessa cried, jumping to her feet. The two walked to Koenma's office, where for once he was _not _stamping papers. In fact, he was sitting in his chair watching some anime while the ogres hovered around him, looking anxious and holding huge stacks of papers.

"Lord Koenma," Botan began as they came in.

"Just a minute, Botan, this is the best part," Koenma said. He was sitting on the edge of his seat now, hands gripping the desk and eyes glued to the TV screen. Jessa eyed him. This kid…he was sitting here watching cartoons instead of working. She grinned. Maybe she should see about becoming _his_ assistant instead.

"Oh, noo! It can't end there!" Koenma screamed. "You!" He pointed to a blue ogre, who cringed away, looking frightened. "Go call whoever airs this show and demand they play the next episode."

"Um, sir, I'm not sure that will work," the ogre mumbled nervously.

"Do it!" Koenma shouted, and the ogre quickly ran out of the room. The baby sighed and settled into his chair comfortable. "Now, Botan, what did you need?"

"Sir, today Jessa saw one of her friends in the Human World," Botan told him.

"I see," Koenma said. "I'll keep that in mind while I'm doing research. Is that all?"

"Yes, sir," Botan said. She bowed, and Jessa followed her out of the room again.

"I'm guessing he hasn't found anything out yet," Jessa said.

"Apparently not," Botan agreed. She smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll find something soon. In the meantime, at least you know your friend is safe!"

"Yeah, one of them," Jessa mumbled under her breath. "I still have no clue where Din is."

* * *

Rrrrr….Din's stomach grumbled for what seemed like the hundredth time. She groaned inwardly. How long had it been since she'd eaten? She wasn't even sure now, but she was beginning to feel lightheaded. "Hey," she said to the demon boy walking in front of her. He paid her no heed. She frowned at him. "How long are we going to keep walking? I'm hungry." Of course, she knew he couldn't understand her, but he could at least _pretend_ to be trying. Instead, he was just ignoring her, which was irritating her more and more. Just because this guy was a demon didn't mean he got to push her around! Okay, well actually it did, considering he could kill her at any moment and she'd have no way to defend herself. But still!

"Listen, shorty, I'm not gonna shut up till you listen, so you may as well stop ignoring me!" Din half-shouted. Still, he ignored her and kept walking. How could she get his attention? A smirk spread across her face as she prepared herself to do something which was probably very stupid. "Oi, Chibi-chan," she said.

He stopped, his shoulders tense, and all of a sudden his sword was pressed to her throat again. "_What did you say_?" he growled.

She backed up a step. "Sorry, sorry. Gomennasai," she said quickly. Yeah, that had been a dumb move. But hey, at least it worked. "Look, I need to eat or I'm gonna pass out, okay? I'm hungry." She rubbed her stomach. "Hun-gry," she repeated slowly, and mimicked eating food with a fork. Wait, he might not know what a fork is. She switched to mimicking chopsticks, hoping he would get the picture. Right as she was doing this, her stomach gave a loud rumble. She pointed to her stomach. "See? Hungry."

Hiei frowned, and sheathed his sword. "_You humans are so weak_," he said as he turned around and started walking again. "_You can't even go a day without eating_."

"Hey!" Din shouted, watching him walk away. "Did you not get what I just said? Not all of us can walk forever without food or rest, you know!" She frowned when he didn't stop and stomped after him. Stupid demon.

A few minutes later, Din noticed they were heading for another town. The boy led her through it, until the smell of cooking reached her nostrils. She sniffed and felt her mouth watering. She was so hungry. He walked into a restaurant and sat down at one of the tables. She sat down across from him, while he said something to the waitress, who hurried off. After another moment, the waitress returned, carrying a plate of three onigiri which she set down in front of the boy. He pushed them towards Din.

She grinned as she picked up one of the onigiri and bit hungrily into it. It wasn't much, but at least it was better than nothing. He wasn't going to let her starve after all. Once she was finished eating, the boy threw some money on the table and they left the village.

"Um, arigatogozaimasu," Din said, trying to sound polite. She didn't want him to think she was ungrateful after all that complaining. He just grunted and kept walking. She smiled a little to herself.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/n: Omg, I finally updated. I am so so so so so sorry about the long delay. I really don't have a good excuse except that a lot has happened and I just haven't felt like working on this story. But I finally got around to writing chapter 6, so here it is! And I will do my best not to have any more 6 month delays. You had to wait 6 months for chapter 6, but I promise (hopefully) you will not have to wait 7 for 7. Ha ha, there's my lame pun of the day. Anyway, who cares about my blabbering. On to the story! Oh, and thank you everyone who reviewed and who hasn't given up on me. :P_

Chapter 6:

"_We're home,_" Keiko called as she and Hope entered the Yukimura's house. They had just returned from their shopping trip.

Hope followed Keiko's example of taking her shoes off in the foyer before they entered the main part of the house. "Um, ta-tadaima (I'm home)," she mimicked Keiko timidly. It was one of the words Keiko had taught her. Keiko smiled and nodded.

Mr. and Mrs. Yukimura were sitting on the couch in the living room when the girls came in. "Welcome back," Mr. Yukimura said. "Did you find some clothes?"

"Yes, thank you," Hope said. She pulled out the money she hadn't spent and held it out to him. "This was left over."

Mr. Yukimura smiled kindly and shook his head. "It's yours. Please make good use of it."

Hope sighed and reluctantly returned the money to her pocket. She really hated taking money from these people, especially after they had already done so much for her. "Thank you," she said again.

"Hope, we wanted to talk to you about something," Mr. Yukimura told her. "Please sit down." He indicated to the chair beside the couch.

'Oh no, here it comes,' Hope thought as she sat down. 'They're tired of me and they're going to kick me out.' She looked at Mr. Yukimura and braced herself for the bad news. What would she do? She didn't know anyone else and had nowhere else to go.

"We would like you to start attending school with Keiko," Mr. Yukimura said.

Hope blinked at him. She knew that she couldn't have heard him correctly. "You want me to go to school?" she repeated dumbly.

"Yes. We talked to the principal about enrolling you today and you'll start school tomorrow. Until you can find your friends, we think it's best for you to attend so that you don't fall behind in your studies, and it will give you a way to pass the time," he explained.

"But, I can't speak Japanese," Hope told him hopelessly. How on earth was she supposed to understand what the teachers were telling her?

"Yes, we also discussed that with the principal. The English teacher has agreed to tutor you and you'll receive special help in some areas." Mr. Yukimura smiled at her warmly. "Don't worry, you'll do fine, and Keiko will be there to help you out." He glanced at his daughter who nodded her agreement.

"We can practice more after I finish my homework," Keiko said.

"Um, okay," Hope mumbled, even though it really wasn't okay. But if Keiko's parents, who were being nice enough to let her stay in their house and even give her money, wanted her to go to a Japanese school, she didn't really have much of a choice. At the least, maybe it would help her learn some more of the language so she wouldn't have to be so dependent on the Yukimuras.

Sighing again, she followed Keiko to the room they were sharing (Keiko's parents had a futon which she slept on; it wasn't very comfortable, but she guessed it was better than sleeping on the floor), and while Keiko sat at her desk working on her assignments, Hope grabbed the Japanese-English-Japanese dictionary Keiko had given her and started pouring over it. Maybe she could manage to learn enough before tomorrow to get by. Yeah, right.

'No offense to the Yukimuras,' she thought to herself, 'but what are they thinking?'

~*~

"Let me see that!" Jessa said, grabbing Din's vocabulary homework and staring at it. She picked her pencil up and started to click out the lead.

"Hey!" Din cried. "You are not copying my homework. You should have done it yourself!" She snatched the sheet back from Jessa and hid it under her book, glaring at the other girl in case she tried to take it back.

"Aww, but I forgot to do it! Mrs. Brown is gonna give me another zero and I'll get grounded again!" Jessa said. She gave Din her best puppy dog eyes.

Din ignored the pleading look. "Maybe next time you'll remember."

Realizing she wasn't going to get any help from this friend, Jessa turned to Hope. "Hooope, you'll let me copy right?" she said.

"Din's right. You should've done it yourself," Hope told her sternly. Usually she would agree to let Jessa copy, but she and Din had agreed that since Jessa had failed every essay and test so far, she needed to start doing it herself.

Jessa's shock was apparent on her face. Her eyes widened. "Bu-but Hope! Pleeease?"

"I said no." Hope lowered her voice to a whisper, apparently hoping Din wouldn't overhear. "Don't tell, but I didn't do the homework either," she said.

Jessa banged her head on her desktop and Din rolled her eyes. Honestly, she sometimes thought she was the only one who ever took school seriously. The bell rang and Mrs. Brown started class with her usual rant about not having had her coffee yet, so no one had better bug her. It was just another normal day at school.

"_Hey, wake up_," a slightly familiar voice said, although she couldn't quite place a face to it.

'What? I can't understand you.'

"_Wake up, stupid human, or I'll leave you_."

'Ningen baka? Hey, I am not a stupid human. You must want Hope or Jessa.'

"_For the last time, wake up_!"

Din felt a sharp kick in her side and sat up with a yelp of pain. "Jessa! What have I told you about—" She blinked as she saw the short demon boy glaring down at her. "Oh, you're not Jessa," she said. Her heart sank as she took in her surroundings. She was still in this strange, unpleasant world where demons tried to eat her, following a demon who for some odd reason hadn't decided to kill her yet. Being at school had been only a dream. She sighed as she stood up, preparing herself for another long day of walking; she never would have thought she'd say it, but she wished she was back in school, hanging out and laughing with her two best friends, and going back home where it was safe and she would argue with her parents. It was true what they said about not knowing what you have until it's gone. A few tears prickled her eyes and she blinked them away.

For the first time, Din wondered what had happened to Hope and Jessa. Had they wound up in the same place as her? If so, had they been as fortunate as her? Or… She shook her head, getting rid of that thought. Jessa was too stupid to get eaten by a demon, and Hope would probably enter her psycho mode and kick their asses. She grinned at the image. When Hope got mad, you didn't get in her way: _or else_.

The demon boy stopped suddenly and Din, who wasn't paying attention because she was so lost in her thoughts, would have run into him if he hadn't stepped out of the way at the last second. Instead she tripped on a rock and fell on her face. Din sat up angrily and glared at him.

"Hey! What was that for?" she demanded. He just ignored her and she stood up huffing and brushed herself off. This guy was such a jerk; man she would love to give him a good kick in the shins, but that would probably just make him mad and she didn't want to think about the results. "Why did we stop?" she asked, looking around. This part of the barren wasteland didn't seem particularly special to her. "Oh yeah, you can't understand me." She sighed and sat down cross legged on the ground. 'May as well make use of the opportunity and rest while I can,' she told herself.

"_Gouki, if you're there, come out now_," the boy said in an irritated voice. Din glanced up at him, thinking he was talking to her, but he was staring in a different direction.

She heard a throaty laugh from the direction he was looking in and turning to look, saw a big humanoid demon jump down from a tree, shaking the ground with a huge thud. He was red, shirtless, with five horns growing out of his forehead and fangs protruding from his bottom lip. Din wondered how that big of a demon had managed to hide in such a scrawny tree without A) breaking it and B) being seen.

"_Guess I can't fool you, Hiei_," Gouki said.

"_Have you found a tear in the barrier_?" Hiei replied shortly.

"_There's one just farther south of here_."

"_Good_."

Din watched with boredom while the two demons conversed, not having a clue what they were saying. It was too bad the only demon who had spoken English had tried to eat her and been killed by her 'companion'. The big demon that had just showed up looked at Din.

"_A human? What is she doing here_?" he asked.

Din's companion shrugged. "_I found her here. She doesn't speak our language_," he replied.

The demon started coming towards her and Din stood up, ready to run away if she needed to. He sniffed her and a grin spread across his face. "_I'd be glad to take care of her for you_."

"_Do what you like_," Hiei said. "_Although I can't guarantee she won't give you a stomachache. She's quite the nuisance_."

Gouki laughed and grabbed Din before she could react, lifting her into the air with one hand. 'Great,' Din thought. 'This is happening _way_ too often.' She glanced down at the demon who had saved her the last two times, wondering if he was going to do anything about this. He didn't seem too concerned. Maybe he was just biding his time? Well, she wasn't going to wait and find out.

"Hey! I warn you, I don't take lightly to people trying to eat me," she yelled at the demon holding her. Of course, he probably couldn't understand her either. As the demon brought her closer to his face, she brought her leg back and kicked him as hard as she could in the cheek. Pain shot through her leg as her foot came in contact with his skin. It was as if she had just kicked a rock. She yelped in pain and bit back tears. Her foot throbbed.

The demon holding her laughed so hard that tears came to his eyes. "_Did you think you could hurt me that way, human_?" he asked. "_I guess you learned the hard way_." He laughed some more and finally set her back down on the ground. Her foot gave way the moment it came in contact with solid ground, and she almost collapsed. She quickly shifted her weight to her left foot and cringed as her foot throbbed even more painfully.

"_On second thought, Hiei, I just ate so I'm not too hungry right now_," Gouki said. "_I think I'll save her for when I have the orb; then I can really have some fun with her_."

Hiei grunted in reply and straightened up, preparing to leave. He glanced at the girl, who was gingerly testing her injured foot and cringing in pain whenever she did so. "_Hmph. Now she's going to be even more of a nuisance_," he muttered. "_Come on, girl, if you can keep up. I'm not waiting for you_." He and Gouki started to walk away.

Din looked up when her ex-savior spoke and saw the two demons leaving. "Hey, wait up!" she called, limping after them. Her foot still hurt too much to put any weight on. "Matte (wait)!"

~*~

"Aaaaaah!" a scream pierced the silent, peaceful forest, sending birds flapping out of the trees. A middle-aged couple jumped up from the tent they were trying to set up and ran in the direction of the scream. Their teenage daughter came crashing through the trees toward them, her face white with fear.

"Karin, what's wrong?" the mother said as her daughter collapsed onto the ground, breathing hard.

Karin pointed shakily behind her. "Th-th-th-there-there's a dead body!" she stammered.

"What?" her mother gasped, peering into the trees.

The father walked towards the place his daughter had pointed at, moving aside a branch that threatened to slap him in the face. His eyes widened as he saw the body of a girl about Karin's age with blond hair, lying still as death on the forest floor. "Sayu," he said quietly to his wife, slowly backing away. "Call the police."


End file.
